A Tale of Six Trillion Years and One Night
by Anika O
Summary: 'The boy wanted to become human.' After living a life of being hated and alone and not even having a name, the boy meets someone who'll help him leave that life and loneliness behind. AU, based off the song by Kemu and sung by IA.


**A/N: I just really love with song (as well as the rest of the Pandora Voxx series) and thought it could fit the pairing well enough, so I just had to write something for it. This isn't completely true to the song, of course, since trying to make it fit perfectly would just be a pain.**

**AU. Crow's still not human, but is actually a living person, I guess. You'll see.**

**Song links: youtube watch?v=zkHgpKcX5FY (original), nicovideo. jp/watch/sm17566854 (a gorgeous piano/violin instrumental which I highly recommend listening to).**

**Here we go.**

_a fairytale that no one knows_

_of a nameless young boy_

_of a village in an unknown era_

_unknown time, long ago_

He knew he wasn't human. He was aware of that fact for as long as he could remember, and he could tell that other people knew, as well. They were all scared of him. He wouldn't hurt anyone unless he had to, but people still considered him dangerous. No one listened. And the boy had gotten used to it, he had accepted it. He hated the life like this, though. Constantly running from people and stealing things for his own survival. He didn't even know his own name. Maybe he didn't even have one.

He'd been caught many times. He got into trouble very often, and it had earned him a reputation. Guards would go after him on sight. He cold outrun them most of the time, but other times, they caught him and locked him up somewhere. In most circumstances, he could escape easily. But not this time.

He wasn't sure how old he was. Fifteen, maybe? Sixteen? It didn't matter. Besides, he somehow knew he had a longer lifespan than humans, a lot longer. He even considered the possibility that he couldn't die of age. Whichever way it was, it definitely made it hard to kill him. He had withstood countless injuries, none of them doing to him would they would do to a human. He wasn't sure if he _could_ die. Sometimes, he sure wished he could. He just told himself wanted to die. Was there a point, living life like this? He was just a nuisance to everything and everyone. He never tried to off himself, though. He wasn't sure if he was just being strong, or just too scared to try. However, his instincts told him to keep fighting and stay alive. So he did, and tried his best to get through the tougher times.

He would often let his mind wander. Most of the time, he did it when he was locked up, just to pass the time. Were there others like him out there somewhere? He wasn't sure exactly what he was, anyway. He could bleed and feel pain, he had basic human needs. But he could do things other humans couldn't do, and there was also the thing with his lifespan. Where did he even come from? Why did he exist? So many questions. Questions that would probably never be answered.

He was in pain, at that time. He was so close to getting away, but they still caught him. They went a little overboard on it, beating him up before throwing him in a cell. There was more security than the other times this had happened. He wasn't sure he could make an escape this time around. His leg hurt; an arrow had been shot through it, and his captors crudely ripped it out when they caught up to him. The pain didn't end there. This was another one of those times where he just wanted to die. To fall asleep and never wake up.

_Whycan'tIdiewhycan'tIdiewhycan'tIdie._

Over and over in his head, repeating for days while he was locked up in there. It was all he wanted at the moment. But he knew it wouldn't happen, and that he shouldn't think about it. As always, part of him was still telling him to stay strong and find a way out of this, since he always found a way. So he set his mind on that.

He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep. He could tell he was dreaming, though. He could always tell. His dreams would be about being normal, living life as any other child would. Not constantly running and being scolded and abused. You would expect him to be disappointed when he woke up from them. He was at first, but he soon learned to enjoy them while they lasted. It was a temporary escape.

Sometimes, he would have nightmares instead. Nightmares of being captured and tortured. Going through things that should have killed him, but he stayed alive anyway. He felt all the pain as if it were real.

This time, it was one of the nicer dreams. He was thankful for that. When he awoke, he felt slightly better. But it only lasted for so long, until he remembered where he was and the current situation he was in. But he then saw his chance.

There was just one guard. The man was pacing around, passing by the cell a few times. He thought the boy was asleep, since it appeared to be night. The black-haired boy slowly moved over to the cell door, wincing as his injured leg moved, trying not to make a sound. He had to time this just right.

When the guard passed in front of the door again, the boy reached through the bars and grabbed his leg, pulling on it to make him fall over, and in just the right direction with the right amount of force to make him fall harder than necessary. The guard's helmet-shielded head hit a brick that was sticking up from the floor, knocking him out, but not doing too much damage. The boy then pulled the unconscious man closer and took the keys, unlocking the door and quickly but quietly starting down the hallway. His leg had started healing a bit faster than it should have, one of the perks of not being human. It still hurt, though, and would probably be like that for a day or so.

He pressed his back up against a corner and peered around it, hearing voices. He watched as one of the guards walked away, which was a stupid decision on their part. The boy smirked and snuck up on the remaining one. Knowing what to do from experience, he quickly put the guard in the same state as the previous one. Continuing down the hallway, he saw the third. Not in the mood to knock any more of these guys out (and in fear of accidentally killing one of them), he threw a rock down a different hallway. The guard went to go inspect the sound it made when landing, giving the boy a clear path.

Man, these guys were really stupid. It made this seem like a game.

The boy let his confidence get to his head too much, though. He let his guard down when he got to the exit. Of course, there was someone standing there.

The boy didn't bother wasting time by panicking. He simply ran past the person blocking his way, shoving him against a wall and running as fast as he could.

There were more on his tail. He wove through buildings and alleys, and was just about to climb onto the roof of one of them when he felt another arrow hit his leg. It wasn't as bad as the last one, but would still prevent him from climbing. He fell and let out a small hiss of pain, trying to stand up. He then realized he was in a dead end. Just his luck, of course. There was only one person cornering him, but the alley was too narrow for him to slip through.

Just when he thought he was screwed, something hit the guard in the head. Not too hard, but certainly enough to be a distraction.

The boy then felt someone grab his hand, saying "This way," and running. He could tell the voice belonged to another boy. Kinda girly, but definitely a guy. Looking over at the person, he could tell he was right.

"Where-" the dark-haired boy started, but was interrupted.

"Just be quiet." The other kid led him into another alley, and through a hole in one of the walls. He covered the hole with a large stone, and turned to the other boy. "There, we should be alright for now."

"Who are you?"

The boy smiled sweetly. "I'm Seto."

Still suspicious, the black-haired boy glared at the smaller kid in front of him. "And why did you help me…?"

"Well, uh…" Seto looked slightly flustered, not knowing what to say. "I saw what was happening, and…I just decided to help you, I guess." When the other boy just continued glaring and didn't say a word, he continued, "I've seen you around, and it never looked like you did anything wrong, so…" Another pause. "I'm sort of in a similar situation, anyway."

"And why exactly did you decide to trust me, just based on seeing me a few times? That's not really enough to know about a person."

"Just good intuition, I guess," the boy shrugged, smiling nervously. "I'm guessing you don't trust me?"

He shook his head. "Not one bit."

Seto sighed. "Not much I can do about that, I guess." He paused. "What's your name, anyway?"

Some of the suspicion on the boy's face disappeared. No one ever bothered to ask him that. He didn't have an answer, but it still seemed to…mean something. Someone actually cared enough to ask a question like that.

"Don't know," he answered. "Don't have one, probably."

A look of confusion crossed the red-haired boy's face. "Really?"

"I don't see why I'd lie about that."

"Well then, come up with one, maybe?" Seto suggested.

He thought for a moment. "Crow, I guess," he answered, thinking of the birds he would always watch and admire. Most people thought they were annoyances and didn't like them, just like what they thought of him. But he always liked them for some reason. They just seemed to do whatever they wanted, and gave a sense of freedom.

"Crow it is, then!" the boy smiled innocently again.

"So, what now?" Crow asked.

Seto sat down near the fire he had going. "Stay here for now. That's all I can really think of."

The other boy sat down next to him. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "You shouldn't be helping me."

"Why not?"

"They'll kill you if they found out." He turned his gaze towards the boy. "I'm serious."

As he said that, a look of nervousness crossed Seto's face. "Well then, we'll try to make it so they don't find out…?"

"It isn't that simple. I don't want someone getting hurt for some stupid reason."

"You're not a stupid reason," Seto countered. "And I don't really care about what happens to me."

Crow sighed, realizing it was pointless to argue about it at the moment. The boy seemed pretty stubborn. "Anyway, you mentioned you're in a similar situation?"

"Oh, yeah," Seto sighed. "I don't think it's as bad as yours, though."

"Do you…think you could tell me about it?"

The boy nodded. "I have no idea who my parents are, and some old man had been raising me, like a grandfather. But he died, so I went off on my own. Just wandered for a while, stopped in towns here and there." He looked over at Crow. "The thing is, I…can see things other people can't."

"Like what?"

"Ghosts and stuff. And sometimes, I can tell peoples' true intentions, or just their general vibe or something like that. I can't really describe it. But it's part of how I knew you were worth helping." He paused. "Anyway, people found out about this, and thought I was some sort of, I don't know, demon child I guess." He chuckled nervously.

Crow scoffed. "If you want 'demon child,' just look right in front of you." He sighed. "At least you're still human."

"And you're not?"

"As far as I know, nope."

"Then what are you?" Seto didn't seem bothered by it at all, much to Crow's surprise.

"Hell if I know," he shrugged. "So, I'm guessing they grew all suspicious of you or whatever and went after you?"

"Yeah. It's a good thing I'm good at going unnoticed."

"You got lucky with that," Crow said. "Everyone takes notice of me. Well, to be honest, I don't make much of an effort in the first place," he chuckled. "I've gotten better at staying hidden, though. When I need to."

Seto simply nodded. There were a few more minutes of silence, but it was a comfortable silence rather than awkward.

"Hey," Seto said slowly, breaking the silence. "We're friends now, right?"

Crow had been staring at the flames, thinking, when he heard Seto speak. He smiled slightly. "Yeah, I don't see why not."

The red-haired boy smiled back. "Good."

Crow then raised his hand above his head and stretched. "I'm getting kinda tired."

"Yeah, same here."

"Sleep, then?" he asked, worn out from the earlier events.

The boy nodded. "I normally just sleep on the ground, hope you don't mind." He pointed to another part of the small room. "There are some blankets over there, if you want."

"Thanks," Crow said, grabbing one of the blankets and falling asleep quickly. He didn't dream at all that night.

When he woke up, Seto was already awake, poking at the remains of the fire.

"Good morning!" the boy said enthusiastically when he noticed his friend awake.

"Yeah," Crow said groggily. He stood up to stretch, but winced when he felt the pain in his leg. The adrenaline from the chase the previous night had made it go unnoticed, but now, he could definitely feel it.

"You okay?" Seto asked, concerned.

"I should be fine," Crow answered. "It's just my leg."

"Let me see it," Seto insisted.

Crow shrugged and walked over, sitting down and pulling his pant leg up.

"How many times were you hit?" Seto asked, even more worried.

"I already said, I'm fine. But if you insist, twice." He paused for a moment. "Once when they were chasing me a few days ago, went straight through, all the way. Then again last night, kind of embedded but I pulled it out easily enough."

"I could fix it up for you…"

"Stop worrying about it. It'll heal quickly." He smiled reassuringly. "I put up with this shit all the time, it's not big deal."

Seto looked up at him. "You should still get it cleaned up and stuff."

He sighed. "Fine, do whatever. If it'll make you less worried."

Seto nodded and got to work. It seemed he had experience with this kind of thing, or at least enough to know what he was doing. Crow just studied the boy's face. The kid was really adorable, he realized.

Seto finished quickly. "There, done," he said. He looked back up at Crow, only to feel the other boy's lips on his.

He pulled away after a few seconds, blushing. "Uh…"

"Sorry," Crow said, smiling mischievously, but slightly embarrassed from his impulsive action. "Couldn't help it." Seto giggled nervously, and looked as if he didn't quite believe him. Crow noticed and added, "Hey, friends can kiss, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

After a moment, Crow asked, "Hey, do you know what time it is?"

"Some time in the afternoon, probably," Seto answered. "I woke up a while before you."

"Damn, I was asleep that long?"

"You were pretty worn out. I don't blame you."

"Being captured and chased when escaping prison sure is tiring," he smirked.

Seto giggled. "I can tell."

They spent the next few hours simply talking and eating some of the old food Seto had. They got along well, and conversation came easily. They both talked about more of their past, and Crow told a few stories of other times similar things had happened. Many of which were amusing, such as the time when he was around nine or so and had caused one of the guards to shoot one of the other guards, causing them to get in a stupid fight and letting Crow make his escape. He always wondered how they could all be such idiots.

Their talking was followed by more comfortable silence. Seto was drawing little designs on the dirt floor with a stick, while Crow was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and lost in his own thoughts again.

"We really shouldn't stay here," the black-haired boy said.

Seto looked up. "Why?"

"Because it's way too dangerous, of course."

"Where would we even go?"

Crow thought for a moment. "I don't know. Anywhere. We could just pack up and start walking wherever, for all I care."

Seto nodded. "I wish we could do that…"

"I don't see why not!" he said enthusiastically, sitting up. "If we go far enough, I'm sure we could find a place where people wouldn't hate us or treat us like trash like they do here."

"You really think so?"

"Of course!"

Seto smiled. "Sounds like a good idea. I have enough supplies and stuff that should last us."

"Alright, then!" Crow stood up. "We could leave tonight, since it'd be easier to sneak out at night."

Seto nodded. "Any idea what general direction we should go?"

"Hmm… East, maybe?"

"Why east?"

"I dunno, it's away from this city, at least."

"Well, sounds like a plan!"

That's exactly what they did. They spent the next few hours gathering the things they'd need, and soon enough, it was dark out.

They snuck out, making their way through the streets and trying not to get caught. Seto was good at finding alternate routes when something got in their way, and Crow was good at distracting and getting rid of the guards when necessary. They certainly made a good team.

They found their way out of the city and into the forest. It wasn't as dangerous as they expected, though Crow was definitely acting a little overprotective of Seto, pulling him close at any signs of danger and always keeping an eye on him.

"You don't have to worry about me," Seto said, noticing how Crow was acting. "I can fend for myself well enough, you know."

"Hey, if you were all worried about my _minor_ injury, I'm allowed to be worried for your safety," Crow defended.

They walked for a while, and were constantly talking and joking around. At one point, Crow grabbed Seto's hand. There were long stretches of silence, the two just enjoying each other's presence. It was an amazing feeling, to know they weren't alone in the world anymore. They had each other now.

They set up camp in the late afternoon, finding a nice clearing. They ate and explored the area, finding a few interesting things. Night came, and they went to sleep. The night was cold, and Seto found himself curled up next to Crow. Partially to stay warm, and partially because he just liked it. Crow wrapped his arms around him, glad to have his friend there with him.

They continued for a few more days. They knew they were getting close to another town. They got to the end of the forest and found themselves on a hill that dropped off, but not high enough to be called a cliff. It overlooked a wide, open, grassy area, and the town could be seen in the distance. They two decided to rest there, sitting down and staring out at the view.

Seto clung to Crow's arm and rested his head on his shoulder, not saying a word.

"You know," Crow said softly, "Everything would be better if it was just you and me in the world, and everyone else just…disappeared."

"You sure about that?" Seto responded. "It'd probably get lonely. Besides, I'm sure there are decent people out there."

Crow shrugged lightly. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He paused. "But as long as I'm with you, I'm not alone, so it wouldn't matter much to me."

Seto smiled. "I could say the same about you."

There was another minute of silence, and Crow spoke again. "You know, I've never been anywhere but that village. So you're the one with all the travel experience here."

"I still don't know much, though," Seto replied softly. "It's a huge world out there, we've hardly seen anything. But I'm sure we'll manage."

"Yeah. Of course we will."

And that was only the beginning of their journey.

_right now, right now, this is fine_

_that is what i really, truly, honestly believe_

**A/N: Not quite satisfied with how I ended this, but couldn't really find a better way. So it'll do for now. I might even write a little continuation, but it all just depends.**

**Never wrote for these guys before, and it takes me a while to get used to writing certain characters, so I hope I didn't do too bad for my first attempt.**

**Anyway, hope you liked.**


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